GRcade

Buying a house (and renting for the proles)

Buying a house (and renting for the proles)

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:08 am

by OnlyShallow

How many folk here have bought a house? Is it always this much of a nightmare? I've left most of it to my wife (mostly because I came home from work to find out she had started buying a house, I've still only seen in once....), but even so what a strawberry floating complicated procedure it is.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:09 am

by suzzopher

It's a bloody nightmare.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:11 am

by IGM

The trick is to stay mildly drunk throughout the whole process.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:13 am

by OnlyShallow

The worst of it is we have to move out of the place we are currently in by the end of August and I doubt we will have completed the purchase by then, so we will have to put all our stuff in storage and move into her mum's for a few weeks.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:14 am

by Rubix

suzzopher wrote:It's a bloody nightmare.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:15 am

by OnlyShallow

IGM wrote:The trick is to stay mildly drunk throughout the whole process.

Luckily that has been my attitude to life in general. Also explains why I got so pissed at the wedding I went to at the weekend (a free bar? Don't you know who I am?!?!?!)

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:17 am

by abcd

It's not that bad if you expect something to go wrong.

Expecting something to go wrong will allow you to work out the next step before it happens.

The key is preparation and knowing the next move before your opponent.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:22 am

by OnlyShallow

I am also selling a place up in Scotland, and that seems to be going along quite easily, I just get the odd email from my solicitor and from the buyer. No hassle.

But buying this place I've had to have medicals, create a limited company, piss in a pot, phone people. Jump through hoops. Banks just don't want to give you a mortgage these days. We have had to put down a 55% deposit.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:26 am

by suzzopher

Getting a mortgage now is fecking impossible for first time buyers too. My brother in law and his girlfriend earn a fair old whack between them and with no deposit they were offered £80K for a mortgage Round here £80K could buy you a bike shed.

They've had to borrow £65K to get a mortgage for £210K(so £145K the mortgage property was £210K). It's ridiculous.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:41 am

by Dblock

It's not a nightmare it's just time consuming. Planning ahead makes perfect for buying a house. When my mother bought her house she was planning for several months before she actually bought it. It took 2 weeks and she was fully settled in.

I was thinking about buying a house as I currently rent one but then I remembered the strawberry floated up times we live in and how corrupt these banks are. Lending you money and ass strawberry floating you big time as soon as you miss one payment. Nah.

When the economy picks up again i'll start thinking about it.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 12:43 pm

by Mommy

suzzopher wrote:It's a bloody nightmare.

Worst life experience ever. I never want to do it again.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 12:49 pm

by Eighthours

It's a pretty stressful time, particularly if you're part of a chain. Can't say I'll be running to do it again in the near future. Luckily, the house I have at the moment is comfortably big enough so I should have no need to move for a while.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 1:11 pm

by OnlyShallow

It just seems that the people involved in the process have been employed solely on their ability to be pains in the arse. They must know their jobs but have been instructed to be as obtuse as possible.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 1:23 pm

by Eighthours

suzzopher wrote:Getting a mortgage now is fecking impossible for first time buyers too. My brother in law and his girlfriend earn a fair old whack between them and with no deposit they were offered £80K for a mortgage Round here £80K could buy you a bike shed.

They've had to borrow £65K to get a mortgage for £210K(so £145K the mortgage property was £210K). It's ridiculous.

To be fair, you should be saving up at least a 5% deposit before trying to buy a house in the first place. Granted, the system has become stupid with the sums that first time buyers now need to put down, but 100% mortgages were silly. Saving up a deposit shows a degree of ability to regulate your outgoings, which is important when it comes to paying a mortgage every month for the next 25/35 years.

Where are they living, anyway? Starting out at a £210k house sounds a bit crazy, unless they're in London or something. Ladders! Rungs!

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 1:28 pm

by suzzopher

Eighthours wrote:

suzzopher wrote:Getting a mortgage now is fecking impossible for first time buyers too. My brother in law and his girlfriend earn a fair old whack between them and with no deposit they were offered £80K for a mortgage Round here £80K could buy you a bike shed.

They've had to borrow £65K to get a mortgage for £210K(so £145K the mortgage property was £210K). It's ridiculous.

To be fair, you should be saving up at least a 5% deposit before trying to buy a house in the first place. Granted, the system has become stupid with the sums that first time buyers now need to put down, but 100% mortgages were silly. Saving up a deposit shows a degree of ability to regulate your outgoings, which is important when it comes to paying a mortgage every month for the next 25/35 years.

Where are they living, anyway? Starting out at a £210k house sounds a bit crazy, unless they're in London or something. Ladders! Rungs!

Cambridge. You can't get anything bigger than 2 beds for less than £200k, it's crazy round these parts.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 1:29 pm

by Tragic Magic

I've saved a bit of money now but my income is a bit gooseberry fool. I'm renting at the moment and would love a mortgage but have no idea how much I'd be able to afford. I guess I should talk to the bank really.

Re: Buying a house

If you didn't already know solicitors are bottom feeding scum bags. It took 4 months for our purchase to go through on our first house.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 1:43 pm

by Mommy

And the charges they magic up are unreal.

For instance -

I had to pay £150 because when the previous owner had built the extension to the house he hadn't had the permission of the original builder (who had gone down the swanny years earlier).What the strawberry float?

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 1:51 pm

by melatonin

I do not think I will ever buy a house in this country. Too much expenditure and cost for comparatively little return.

European renting culture for the winning.

Re: Buying a house

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 1:56 pm

by Lotus

I earn a very good salary, but I still can't see getting on the housing ladder, so to speak. I think you need two incomes, and even then it's a stretch. I'd love to build a house one day, but the cost of land is ridiculous.